Fallout: New Vegas Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

This new part of Freeside you're about to explore brings you closer to the strip than you've yet been. There are several buildings -- ancillary casinos, mostly -- that you can enter here, but before we do any of that, let's explore the contained streets here to see if there's anything interesting worth noting. For starters, you're going to find a lot of people who won't speak with you, but are trying to get you to walk into various establishments. These are the aforementioned casinos (and the like), and we'll get to those shortly. But first, let's keep on exploring.

The one person of note you really want to speak with here is a man named Old Ben. Old Ben is stationed up by the entrance to the strip, and not only does he have some sound advice for you, but he'll have some pretty humorous (and some outright heinous) stories to tell you. It appears that Old Ben has lived in Freeside his whole life, and has been employed in just about any profession you could possibly imagine, from butcher to bodyguard. Old Ben was even a male prostitute! But apart from his funny stories, he'll give you one very important piece of advice. Don't attempt to move through the robot-occupied checkpoint towards the strip without checking in with those robots first. If you do, you're going to get fried. You've been warned! Thanks, Old Ben!

But let's not worry about the checkpoint for now. Let's start to get into some of the inhabitable buildings around here before we move on. The one that will likely draw your eye the most is a building with The King's logo attached to it. This is the School of Impersonation... or at least was, until a nuclear holocaust engulfed much of the planet. Nonetheless, the gang known as The Kings call this place home, and since you've seen their members walking around so much, why not head inside and see what's going on? The building is extensive, and not exactly worth exploring (though you should feel free to do so, if you so desire). What's notable here is the man named Pacer leaning against a wall near a locked door towards the building's entrance. You can bribe this guy for 50 Bottle Caps (or use your high Speech skill to bypass any need to bribe) and gain audience with The King, who is an Elvis wannabe, and this gang's leader. Talking to him will net you the Side Quest known as G.I. Blues, so you may want to speak with him before moving on (in fact, as you'll find out, you may need to undertake this side quest to ultimately work your way to the Strip itself).

The next place you should visit is the Atomic Wrangler Casino. This is a worthwhile place to visit primarily because you can earn two different side quests here. You'll also find some other people to speak with if you'd like, and of course, you can cash in some Legion or NCR funds (or Bottle Caps, if you must) for chips to play all sorts of casino games. But the two things you should make sure to do here are as follows. Speak to the man named James Garret behind the front counter. Ask him for some work, and your wish will come true. The Side Quest called Wang Dang Atomic Tango will be offered up for you to complete. By speaking to the woman behind that same counter, named Francine Garret, you'll get another Side Quest, this one named Debt Collector.